The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Murders that Stunned an Empire - Julie Kavanagh in Conversation with Roy Foster
Dublin Festival of History PodcastShow Notes
On a sunlit evening in 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke, Chief Secretary and Undersecretary for Ireland, were ambushed and stabbed to death while strolling through Phoenix Park in Dublin. The murders were carried out by the Invincibles, a militant faction of republicans armed with specially-made surgeon’s blades.
The murders ended what should have been a turning point in Anglo-Irish relations. A new spirit of goodwill had been burgeoning between Prime Minister William Gladstone and Ireland’s leader Charles Stewart Parnell, with both men forging in secret a pact to achieve peace and independence in Ireland – with the newly appointed Cavendish, Gladstone’s protégé, to play an instrumental role.
The impact of the Phoenix Park murders was so cataclysmic that it destroyed the pact, almost brought down the government and set in motion repercussions that would last long into the twentieth century.
Julie Kavanagh is a renowned journalist, former New Yorker London editor, former arts editor of Harpers & Queen and Costa Biography Award finalist.
Roy Foster is a distinguished Irish historian and academic. He was the Carroll Professor of Irish History from 1991 until 2016 at Hertford College, Oxford.
The Dublin Festival of History is brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with Dublin City Council Culture Company. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Dublin Festival of History Podcast
This episode, from the Dublin Festival of History 2025, is the 28th annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture, delivered by Professor Diarmaid Ferriter of University College Dublin on the Dublin playwright Seán O’Casey; his formative years and what influenced his work, which incorporates so much of the social, cultural & political history of early twentieth century Dublin.
This episode, from the Dublin Festival of History 2025, celebrates the charismatic Fulvia who amassed a degree of military and political power that was unprecedented for a woman in Ancient Rome. Acclaimed historian Jane Draycott has used original sources to piece together Fulvia’s life and sort fact from fiction, while also exploring the role of women in Roman society.
In this episode, from the Dublin Festival of History 2025, author Anthony McElligott talks about his book The Last Transport: The Holocaust in the Eastern Aegean, and why the timing of the transport raises important questions in relation to long-term ideological Nazi goals and the immediate contingency thrown up by war.
In this episode, from the Dublin Festival of History 2025, author Kate Vigurs tells the stories of the lesser-known women who worked across Europe, from the Netherlands to Belgium and Poland to Denmark, recruited by Britain's Special Operations Executive in the wake of the Nazi invasion of Europe.
In this episode, from the Dublin Festival of History 2025, Dr Christina Wade looks at the history of beer alongside some of the biggest events in the story of Ireland, as explored in her book titled ‘Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland’. Christina is a co-host of the Beer Ladies Podcast.